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| Home Front: Politix |
| "Nudging" America to Give Up Meat |
| 2009-09-10 |
| The number of animals and plants protected by the federal Endangered Species Act is about to increase dramatically. For Cass Sunstein, radical animal-rights activist and nominee for the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) Administrator job, that means he will be better positioned than ever to make livestock farming a thing of the past. How are the two things connected? Our director of research appeared on the Fox News Channel yesterday to explain to Glenn Beck's audience how much influence Sunstein may soon have over what we eat: Cattlemen in this country own and manage most of the lands that are covered by the Endangered Species Act, that are subject to control. So you ask: Why is Cass Sunstein's hatred and animus toward meat eating such a big deal? It's because he'll be in a position to be able to use the Endangered Species Act to put cattlemen out of business. And then the price of your steak goes up. And then the price of your cheeseburger goes up.It's not only cattlemen who could be at the business end of Sunstein's ridiculous anti-meat philosophy. Environmental activists groups sued over the Endangered Species Act in 2006 to divert water to a habitat for a three-inch bait fish in California -- taking the water away from drought-stricken farmers and costing the California economy more than 60,000 farming jobs. Imagine what would happen if activists didn't have to sue to get what they wanted, but could just pick up the phone instead. The future "regulatory czar" has made no secret of his coercive tactics to get Americans to eat less meat. His grand plan is to make meat more expensive to produce, which will in turn make it harder for American families to afford. Similarly unpopular tactics have been attempted in the drive to get people to drink less soda. While Sunstein couches his plans as a "nudge," we'd say it's more like a shove. Hug your cheeseburgers tonight, because they too are about to become an endangered species. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #21 It takes serious infrastructure to support a population of vegetarians, too, as a Jain friend of mine found to her dismay when her husband was posted to Beijing as a corporate ex-pat. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-09-10 23:30 |
| #20 Who the hell told you that, 746? It isn't true - a quick google found a recent statistic that 31% of Indians are vegetarians. Vegetarianism isn't particularly healthy for human beings, but the necessary discipline which the vegetarian diet requires in order to avoid malnutrition can result in an apparent superior state of health compared to your average fatass undisciplined American. But that's the discipline, not the vegetarianism. It's important to not confuse cause with correlation. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2009-09-10 21:02 |
| #19 How about feeding them to endangered species? Win-Win situation |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2009-09-10 19:07 |
| #18 "Save the plants, eat a vegetarian." Naaaahhhh, ed - too stringy. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2009-09-10 19:01 |
| #17 Another nudge, which is coming, is the EPA has designated methane gas as harmful to the atmosphere therefore it can be regulated like carbon dioxide. Try $350 on a head of cattle, grass fed, dairy, or feed lot. I have spent most of my life in cattle country and this is devestating. |
| Posted by: bman 2009-09-10 17:11 |
| #16 I eat vegetarian. Elk, deer, sheep, cattle . . . all vegetarians. |
| Posted by: no mo uro 2009-09-10 16:11 |
| #15 If meat were not meant to be eaten, then why does it taste so good? Or run so fast . . . . |
| Posted by: gorb 2009-09-10 15:49 |
| #14 Saw a wonderful "TEE" shirt in wallyworld. Said "I love fast food" and showed a picture of a Deer in full flight. 8 feet off the ground jumping a fallen tree. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2009-09-10 13:05 |
| #13 the vast majority of Hindu's in India have been vegetarians for thousands of years |
| Posted by: 746 2009-09-10 12:31 |
| #12 No meat or salt. Salt Panels coming to a federal executive office building near you. |
| Posted by: ed 2009-09-10 08:41 |
| #11 The Endangered Species Act should be abolished. After all extinction is a perfectly natural process and should be left alone. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2009-09-10 08:27 |
| #10 Time to make a few examples out of these people. I use the term "people" when referring to these monsters, loosely. |
| Posted by: Don Vito Uleash3305 2009-09-10 08:18 |
| #9 Save the plants, eat a vegetarian. |
| Posted by: ed 2009-09-10 07:45 |
| #8 The dhimocrats are really doing their best to piss off the entire population of the United States, aren't they? |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2009-09-10 07:39 |
| #7 So Sunstein make hamburger unavailable to the people, while his boss dines on imported Waygu beef. With that scenario, he better be prepared to add House and Senate Democrats to the endangered species list. |
| Posted by: DMFD 2009-09-10 06:58 |
| #6 Since vegetarian diets are deficient in many ways maybe the next republican government should "nudge" vegetarians back to healthy omnivorous eating. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2009-09-10 06:03 |
| #5 Next time there is a volcanic eruption like the one in AD 535, only the people who eat meat will survive. |
| Posted by: crosspatch 2009-09-10 03:33 |
| #4 Nah, not give up. Just switch to imported---like with oil. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-09-10 02:27 |
| #3 That does it! Where's my fork?! |
| Posted by: gorb 2009-09-10 00:46 |
| #2 Him? |
| Posted by: KBK 2009-09-10 00:37 |
| #1 Sunstein, and people like him, should be taken to Oahu, and given a nudge off of Nuʻuanu Pali. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2009-09-10 00:25 |